Voting-machine.



s; L. MOLAURIN.

VOTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED FBB.20, 1911. 1,004,669. Patented 001;. a, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1,

I C' ll .H JH W" 2. 7

' Attorneys.

SIDNEY L. MOLAURIN, OF BRANDON, MISSISSIPPI.

VOTING-MACHINE.

Specification of letters Iatent.

Patented Oct. 3, 1911.

Application filedlebruary 20, 1911. Serial No. 609,750.

To all whom may concern:

Be it known that I, SIDNEY L. MGLAURIN,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Brandon, in the county of Rankin and State numbered 7, is passed a number of electric of Mississippi, have invented a new and useful Voting-Machine, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to registers, and more especially to recording voting machines; and the object of the same is to utilize an electric current for making 'an indelible record simultaneously'of all the votes or ballots castby a body of suifragistsor legislators. This object is accomplished by the mechanism hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and as shown in the drawings wherein Figure l is a plan view of the table at the secretarys or clerks deskand Fig. 2 asectional view therethrough on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan View of one of the charts. Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic plan view of the wiring, showing at its top a slight modificationwhich will be explained hereinafter. Fig. 5 is a plan View of one of the legislators desks and a diagrammatic View of its wiring to correspond with the modification just referred to.

Referring to the drawings by reference numerals, 5 designates the top of'a table or stand or counter which may well represent 4 the secretarys desk or be located near to it,

and its upper surface is recessed as at 6 for the reception of a plate 7 preferably of soapstone or other good non-conductorof electricity and whose upper face stands below the upper face of the table so as toleave a shoulder 8 along the inner edge of the plate, while 9 isa bead rising higher than the upper face of the plate 7 across one end of the same and forming another shoul der for a purpose to appear hereinafter. Superimposed above the plate 7 is another similar plate 17 carried by any suitable form of hinges 18 which are .connected with the table top 5 as shown, and these plates are of a size which will cause them t6 register when the uppermost is permitted to lie upon the lowermost as seen in Fig. 2. might, in fact, be a very slight space between them, for they are intended to receive the chart 50 shown in Fig. 3, and the shoulders 8 and 9 form guides against which one side and one endof said. chart are placed group as shown. posed that they will come opposite the There so that each chart used by the secretary will occupy a similar position between the two plates 7 and 17.

Through one plate such as the lowermost terminals 20 each of which has a platinum tip 21 countersunk a trifle below the upper face of this plate or in any event. spaced from the similar platinum tip 31 of the terherein I have shown them as set screws taking through hubs or nuts sothat the platinum tips may be accurately adjusted with the uppermost of each pair slightly out of contact with the lowermost thereof.

The chart 50 shown inFig. 3 is printed upon a piece of papcr,-and as herein'shown it has circles 51, withinv or adjacent which may be a number 52 designating the voter (or his name might be printed adjacent the circle), but it is to be understood that the numberor name appears twice on the chart, once in the yea group and again in the nay The groups are so disgroups of terminals in the plates above described, and the circles of each group are so disposed that each will always come under a certain terminal when the chart 50 is disposed in correct position against the shoulders 8 and 9. The material of which the chart is made will be paper, and if desired the paper may be treated to render it combustible ina slight degree only; for, as will appear below, a jump spark current is to be flashed through this paper from one terminal to another so as to burn a hole therein, but of course it is not desirable that in the act of burning this little hole it should spread beyond the confines of the circle thus to be indicated.

The wiring is shown on nnect 2 in Fig.

4. Herein the numeral 40 designates a. battery and 41- the primary circuit leading.

therefrom through a switch 42 and an induction coil 48. From the latter in this view two positive and like wires 44 and 45' are led, the former being connected with the positive terminals 46 inthe yea buttons and the latter, 45, being connected with thepositive terminals inv the nay buttons 47, all buttons in this view being typically illustrated as keys for purposes ofbetter illustration. From the negative terminal of each button leads a. wire 48, only one of which is numbered at the left side of Fig. 4 and in Fig.

'2, and this wire leads to the negative termi-'- and the wiresfrom the nay buttons leading to the othergroup of terminals 20. The

I upper terminals 30in the plate 17 are all connected to a common wire 49, and in the illustration at the bottom of Fig. 4 the common wire 49 of the yea group leads to the middle of the induction coil 43 and the com-' mon wire 491 of the nay group leads also to an intermediate point therein. Su posing now the yea button 46 at the top 0 this vlew be depressed; a current is completed from the left end of the induction coil 48, up the wire 44, through the button 46, back along the wire 48 to the terminal 20, and being a. jump spark current it will burn through the paper 5.0 which stands between this terminal 20 and the terminal 30 and gain access to the latter. Thence the current flows along the common Wire 49 and through the wire 420 to the center ofthe .coil

43. If a nay button is depressed, the action" is the same except that one of the circles in the nay-group on the chart is burned through and the right hand endof the'inductioncoil is used.

In Fig.5 I have diagrammatically illustrated a desk '60 on which is shown a iyea button 46- and a nay button 47, with one positive wire 44 leading; to? one side of bothbuttons and. two negative wires 48 from the buttons separately, I

Some question having been raised before the assembly and a vote thereon being called for, the secretary closesthe switch42 and leading the chairman directs Those in favor press a yea button, and those opposed press a nay button. Immediately and simultaneousl all members or legislators may voteintelllgently, accurately, silently, and'irrevocably. Suppose that Number '1 or Mr. Allen votes yea; the depression of a yea button closes a .circuit and the numeral 1 in the yea group of the chart is burned out. Supposing Number 2 or. Mr. Brown votes nay; the numeral 2 in the nay group on the chart is burned out. If Number 3 or Mr. Clark should not vote at all, the numerals 3 in both groups on the chart will remain intact.

But if any member by design or otherwise should vote both ways, the secretary couldinstantly detect it because the total yeas added to the total nays would foot up more than there are members present, and he followsthe discovery of this fact with an investigation to ascertain which numeral or name is burned out in both groups on the .chart. We may assume that the member who did this voted one Way and then changed his mind, and as soon as the score; tary calls attention of the .chairman to this fact the member can be recorded orally which'way he does desire to vote. Thus it will be seen that this machine produces instantly a chart record of the vote taken, and the secretary can at once announce the result.'- If it is an ordinary vote he may say and the chairman will repeat The yeas have it. If it is a vote as by tellers, the secretary or chairman may announce that the result is Those in favor five, those op.- posed four. And if the vote be on a roll call, the secretary hasdatafrom which he can immediately read the roll and state how every member voted. his to be understood that this last information is recorded on every chart and may be kept thereon for reference, but the manner of announcing the vote will depend on What kind of vote has been called for.

The plates 7 and 17 are preferably made of some heavy material which is anon-conductor of electricity, the latter fo'r obvious purposesand the former for the purpose of clamping the charts 50 between them. This is done by' the secretary who raises theupper plate 17 around its hinges 18, removes the oldchart, and inserts a new one with its edge and one-end against the shoulders 8 and 9, and by this act he brings the groups of circles 51 under the groups of terminals 30 and above the corresponding groups of terminalsQO, automatically and without anv effort on his part other than to see that the chart is properly gaged as in a printing press. Thereafter he lowers the upper plate 17 upon the, chart and it will hold it in place until the;voting is finished and prevent any sparks fromdoing injury to surrounding objects.

What is claimed is:

In a voting machine, the combination with a yea anda nay button on each desk, a scoretarys table having a plate of insulating material countersunk in its body below the up per face thereof so as to leave shoulders along one side and across oneend of the plate, an upper plate hinged to the table and adapted to be brought down onto the lower plate, a chart removably mounted between the plates, said chart-being made of an insulating combustible material, and two sets of terminals-arranged in groups at remote points in said plates and each comprising one terminal passing downward through the upper plate and another passing ,upward through the lower plate immediately be- 139 neath the upper terminal and upon opposed faces of the chart, all of the terminals hav' ing platinum points out of contact With each other when the uppermost plate is lowered; of an induction coil, a battery,a main circuit connecting these elements, a negative wire leading from one side of every button to one end of said coil, an individual Wire leading from the other side of each button 10 to its respective terminal in one set, and a Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

ture in the presence of two Witnesses.

SIDNEY L. MGLAURIN.

Witnesses: v

ROY L. Fox, ENOLA STAMPS.

Washington, D. C. 

